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Charley Walters: Dan Carey gracefully accepts the challenge of his life

Pioneer Press

Posted:
06/02/2010 12:01:00 AM CDT

Updated:
06/02/2010 09:54:14 PM CDT

Scan of original printed page of team photo of the "1968 Visalia METS". Scanned September 2, 2009. Middle row, second from left is alum Dan Carey, pitcher, wearing number 45. "Printing By Sequoia Printing" and "Photo By Albert's Studio" on face. Visalia, California. (Albert's Studio)

Dan Carey. Taken March 27, 2008. (University of St. Thomas)

Dan Carey, 60, will tell you he's had a wonderful life.

"I have a good family and I've had a chance to play pro baseball, which every kid would like to do," he said. "I had a good career. I've never said, 'Why did this happen to me?' "

Carey was a left-handed pitching phenom who possessed an explosive fastball — in excess of 90 mph — at Hastings High School in 1967. After a six-year minor league career with the New York Mets, who in those days were abundantly deep in pitching throughout the organization, Carey earned a Ph.D. in exercise physiology.

He practiced what he preached. Fanatically. The lithe 6-foot-2, 175-pounder obsessed about exercise. He was in tremendous physical condition. He became an exercise physiology professor at the University of St. Thomas.

Carey is a physical specimen. He once underwent a 24-hour electrocardiogram to monitor his heartbeat, and at the end of the cycle, a cardiologist showed him the result: his resting heartbeat at night got as low as 29 beats per minute.

Carey is also studious and zealous about research. On Feb. 27, he was driving home to St. Paul from the Mall of America, where he had been searching for some books. He made a lane change too sharply. His car rolled over.

It was decided at the accident site that Carey should undergo a CT scan to make sure he had no broken bones or internal injuries. That was done at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. The scan was followed by a magnetic resonance imaging the next morning.

The MRI showed that Carey had a brain tumor. He would undergo surgery the next morning.

"So I went from a Saturday night car accident to brain surgery on Monday morning," Carey said. "That's a pretty big transition. But you do what you've got to do."

The brain surgery showed that Carey's tumor was malignant. Six weeks of chemotherapy and radiation would follow.

"A lot of people say chemotherapy makes you sick, but now it's by pill, by mouth," Carey said. "I was never sick. People said, 'You'll be fatigued, you'll be tired,' but I was never fatigued or tired. I had a very good response to chemo and radiation.

"The only symptoms I had were a couple of times I got faint and lightheaded, but that was pretty rare."

Today, Carey takes only anti-seizure medication. But before, as a result of the tumor, he had to take seven drugs in the morning and five in the evening.

The survival rate for malignant brain tumors after five years, Carey said, is about 39 percent.

"I'm hoping I beat the odds," he said.

Carey has an appointment to see his oncologist on June 11. Then he'll undergo one week of double chemotherapy sessions to see how the tumor responds. Another MRI will follow. Then he might partake in a clinical trial at the University of Minnesota using special drugs yet to be approved by the FDA, but drugs that are in the process of being approved.

"Then we'll see what the future holds for me," Carey said.

Upon graduation from Hastings in 1967, Carey was the 24th overall pick by the Mets in the major league baseball draft. He received a $35,000 signing bonus.

"My buddy called this to my attention — he said if I were drafted in the same place today, 'you'd be getting over $1 million for just signing your name,' " Carey said. "I said, 'That sounds pretty good, doesn't it? A million dollars for writing your name.' "

The $35,000 Carey received to sign with the Mets was a lot of money in 1967.

"I tell my students that I got $8,000 to go to school (college) for four years and I never spent it all," he said. "At St. Thomas nowadays, $8,000 will get you two classes."

Carey gave the remainder of the $35,000 to his parents — Gene and Norma — to pay off their house in Hastings.

"They paid off the house and gave me back half of it," Dan said. "They sat me down one time at the table and showed me how much money, just on interest, they saved by being able to pay off the house right away."

I have known Dan Carey since his minor league pitching days. You'll never meet a finer person. He has handled his challenge with grace and fortitude.

"Since this has happened, I've laughed and joked more than I've cried, that's for sure," he said. "I've had a good time with family and friends coming in to see me. So it's actually not been a sad time for me at all, to tell you the truth."

Carey plans to beat the odds.

"I'm counting on it," he said. "I hope my physical fitness will be a benefit. I went through six weeks of occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy. So between that therapy and the drugs, and my good physical fitness, I've got to think that will be an advantage.

"That's my plan anyway. I think I'm going to beat it."

Last week, Carey was approved to return to work full time at St. Thomas. This week, he's in Baltimore attending the American College of Sports Medicine national conference.

"I chose this as a career and I've wanted to get back to it," he said. "After the surgeon drilled a hole in my skull and messed with my brain, I told him, 'You know what — I feel great right now.' And I've never had a minute when I go, 'Man, do I feel lousy.' I've generally felt very good since this thing happened. I guess I'm pretty lucky."